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China is reportedly developing and producing long-range attack drones for Russia to be used in the Ukraine war as part of a weapons program established by Vladimir Putin in the nation.
Knewz.com has learned that the claims emerged shortly after the United States Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell accused China of providing "substantial" support to Russia to bolster the embattled nation's military technology.
It has been reported that IEMZ Kupol, a Russian state-owned arms company Almaz-Antey subsidiary, has developed and tested the Garpiya-3 (G3)—a new attack-drone model.
The drone was manufactured and developed under IEMZ Kupol's banner in China with the collaboration of local specialists.
It is worth noting that the United States imposed sanctions on the Almaz-Antey subsidiary in December 2023, almost a year and a half after Russia commenced the invasion operation in Ukraine.
According to reports, one of the documents pertaining to the project showed correspondence between Kupol and the Ministry of Defense of Russia where the former mentioned that it was capable of mass-producing the new Garpiya-3 attack drones for use in the Ukraine war.
The new attack drone model can travel about 1,200 miles with a payload of about 110 pounds. It has been reported that samples of the G3 and some other drone models made in China have been sent to IEMZ Kupol in Russia for further testing.
Fabian Hinz, a research fellow at the London-based defense think-tank International Institute for Strategic Studies, said in a statement that if China is indeed manufacturing drones on behalf of Russia, it could be considered a major development.
"If you look at what China is known to have delivered so far, it was mostly dual-use goods - it was components, sub-components, that could be used in weapon systems... This is what has been reported so far. But what we haven't really seen, at least in the open source, are documented transfers of whole weapon systems," Hinz was quoted as saying.
It was further reported that the White House National Security Council has grown concerned about China's allegedly direct involvement in the manufacture of attack drones for Russia, although a spokesperson clarified that it does not seem the Xi Jinping administration is aware of the reportedly ongoing collaboration.
Washington believes that the situation appears "to be an instance of a Chinese company providing lethal assistance to a U.S.-sanctioned Russian firm."
The alleged manufacture of Russian drones has also concerned NATO, as spokesperson Farah Dakhlallah expressed in a statement:
"These reports are deeply concerning and Allies are consulting on this matter. "The Chinese government has a responsibility to ensure its companies are not providing lethal assistance to Russia."
"China cannot continue to fuel the largest conflict in Europe since the Second World War without this impacting its interests and reputation," the NATO spokesperson added.
The Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office of the United Kingdom has requested China to stop diplomatic and material support to Russia's war machine. A spokesperson for the department mentioned:
"We are extremely concerned by reports that Russia is producing military drones in China... This adds to a growing body of open-source evidence that Chinese companies are enabling Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine."
"The supply of weapons would be a direct contradiction to statements from China that it would not provide weapons to relevant parties of the conflict," the spokesperson said in a statement.
On the other hand, Samuel Bendett, an adjunct senior fellow at the Washington-based think tank Center for a New American Security, believes China would be "hesitant to open itself up to international sanctions for helping Moscow's war machine," it was reported by Reuters.
He added that more information was required to establish the alleged manufacture of Russian drones in China as an irrefutable fact.
It is worth noting that the allegations arose weeks after U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Campbell accused China of actively aiding Moscow with the technology necessary to boost military production.
The U.S. has long kept a watchful eye on China's transfer of "dual-use technologies" to Russia, which can have both military and civilian uses.
However, Campbell has alleged that China is unequivocally providing military technology to Russia, at a time when the nation is battling Ukrainian forces on both sides of the border.
"These are not dual-use capabilities... These are basically being applied directly to the Russian war machine," Campbell said regarding the components China has been sending to Russia lately.
"These are component pieces of a very substantial effort on the part of China to help sustain, build and diversify various elements of the Russian war machine," Campbell further alleged.
"We're seeing efforts at the highest levels of both governments to try to both hide and protect certain elements of this worrisome collaboration … Most of these activities have been driven underground."
In July 2024, Western military officials alleged that China was in the process of developing Shahed-like attack drones for Russia—something that the countries reportedly discussed back in 2023.
While Russia has been using Shahed drones in the Ukraine war since the beginning and has even established a factory to mass-produce the attack drones, the officials expressed concern that China might be able to replicate the technology of Shahed at a much higher rate.
In a statement to Bloomberg at the time, the anonymous Western officials alleged that China had allegedly begun the development and testing of attack drones meant for Russia.